Chair construction



Patented Aug. 8, 1939 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFIE Application Nevember 2, 1937, Serial No. 172,334

1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in chair construction and has reference particularly to an interlocking chair rail, leg post and corner block arrangement which forms an exceptionally rigid unit and which will withstand hard usage and will not break down under the most severe strain.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a chair comprising an interlocking, preferably all wood, construction, in which the individual leg posts are rigidly supported in the frame of the seat forming the chair-rail, and which embodies a corner-block reinforcing element interconnected with adjacent sides of the chair rail and leg post to impart to the assembly a rigidity for beyond anything so far provided in chair construction.

I have accomplished this object by means of a construction hereinafter described, set forth in the appended claims and illustratively exemplified in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a substantially longitudinal sectional view of one corner of a chair;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same corner viewed from the front and partly disassembled to further illustrate the individual features of the construction;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a chair embodying the features of the present invention and being viewed from underneath.

Referring to the drawing in detail, l0 denotes the ordinary type of wood chair comprising a seat ll, back and back legs 12 and front leg posts l3.

The seat I l comprises, in addition to the saddle portion Ha, a skirting 54 consisting of wood rails upon which the saddle portion rests to receive its support. In the present construction the saddle seat projects flush with the skirting to provide a deep flat surface about the sides and front of the chair. This is further accentuated by allowing the skirting to envelope the outer sides of the front leg posts l3.

Each front leg post !3 is tenoned to form recesses l5 at its upper end, about its outer sides and to a depth equal to the upright dimension of the skirting rails I l. The ends of the skirting rails are likewise tenoned on their inner sides to form recesses l6 which receive the outer sides of the recessed portions I 5 of the leg posts. The ends of the skirting rails when assembled about the leg post envelope the latter and rest upon the shoulder l'l formed at the lower ends of the leg post recesses l5, as illustrated particularly in Figure 2. The front posts l3 are further secured in position by two dowel pins 18 projecting from the leg post into each skirting rail I4.

The corner construction at the front of the seat is further reinforced by means of a corner block it, comprising a straight piece of wood arranged diagonally across the corner on the inside of the skirting rails and dovetailed at its ends into recesses 20 on the front and side portions of said rails. The face of the corner block I!) directed towards the leg post I 3 is provided with a tapered portion 2|, the sides of which contact the inner faces of the front and side rails 14 and the end, which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the block itself, faces the inner corner of the leg post, as illustrated in Figure l. The leg post l3, side and front rails M and corner block I9 are drawn together into a rigid unit by means of a heavy screw 22 which extends through the midportion of the corner bock l9 and into the leg pos '3 at the inner angle thereof, so that as the screw is tightened the block draws the front and side skirt portions towards the leg post and the latter against the end walls of the recesses Hi.

In assembling the present construction all joints and contacting surfaces are provided with an application of glue after which the parts are assembled and the screw 22 tightened down to draw the elements together into a rigid unit.

As a result of the present construction a chair has been developed which provides an exceptionally rigid corner unit and which because of its rigidity insures a longer life under more severe conditions than has been enjoyed by other types of chairs having reinforced corner constructions.

It is to be noted further that the present construction is equally well adapted to table or cabinet constructions as it is to chairs and may be embodied in any construction utilizing leg posts and rail sections interlocked therewith.

Having now described my invention and the manner in which the same is used, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A rigid corner construction for a chair comprising a square leg post having its front and side portions recessed at the upper end, front and side skirting rails having notched ends resting upon the bottoms of said recessed portions for support and embracing the recessed end of the post to form a substantially continuous skirt, dowel pins projecting from the post into each skirting rail, a corner block disposed diagonally across the inside of the corner and dovetailed at its ends in the front and side rails, said block having a tapered projection on its inner face to abut the inner faces of the front and side rails and a blunt midportion facing the inner corner of the post, and a screw projecting through the block and into the inner corner of the post to draw the parts together into a rigid unit.

THOMAS WITHERBEE FOOTE. 

